ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION, TRADE OPENNESS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A DISAGGREGATED APPROACH

This study examines the relationship between electricity consumption, trade openness and economic growth in 25 African countries during 1980–2016. It disaggregates electricity into renewable and non-renewable and disaggregates trade into exports and imports. It employs cointegration and Granger causality techniques that enable us to determine both joint and individual causality, as well as account for individual heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. It also uses the variance decompositions (VDs) and impulse response functions (IRFs). This study shows a short-run and long-run joint causality from electricity and trade to growth, as well as a short-run and long-run joint causality from trade and growth to electricity. Besides, the Dumitrescu–Hurlin Granger non-causality technique shows a bidirectional causality between electricity and growth and between trade and growth but a unidirectional causality from electricity to trade. It also reveals the causal relationships from exports, imports, renewable and non-renewable electricity to growth. This study implies that electricity consumption and trade openness stimulate growth, while the latter also determines electricity consumption and trade openness. Based on the findings, we recommend some policy options.

Uncertainty, Trade and Growth: An Indian Experience

Over the years, emerging economies have extensively followed a liberal trade regime and witnessed unprecedented economic growth. At the same time, global uncertainty has also reached to the pinnacle and has gripped almost every country within its ambit. Trade openness though seems to be channelising negative spillover effects of global uncertainty, yet continues to flourish. Therefore, the economic implications of uncertainty in presence of unprecedented trade openness remain a moot question which lays the basis of this study. Using autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) approach, the empirical estimates suggest that macroeconomic effects of uncertainty are effectively mitigated by trade openness. JEL Codes: C22, F14, C22

Equilibrium Technology Diffusion, Trade, and Growth

We study how opening to trade affects economic growth in a model where heterogeneous firms can adopt new technologies already in use by other firms in their home country. We characterize the growth rate using a summary statistic of the profit distribution: the mean-min ratio. Opening to trade increases the profit spread through increased export opportunities and foreign competition, induces more rapid technology adoption, and generates faster growth. Quantitatively, these forces produce large welfare gains from trade by increasing an inefficiently low rate of technology adoption and economic growth. (JEL D21, D24, F14, F43, O33)

A Mini Review on Challenges in Regulatory, Development and Clinical Development for Herbal Product

A review of the regulatory status of herbal drugs/products was done for few countries forming part of Asia, Africa, America, Europe, and Australia, to understand various categories under which the trade of herbal products is permitted and their premarketing requirements. A critical assessment was done, to know the hindrances in the process of harmonization of herbal products. It has been found that there is a lack of harmonization in the regulatory requirements of herbal products internationally, besides the issues of availability of herbs and their conservation. These are hindering the international trade and growth of the herbal products segment. Different challenges and regulatory guidelines discussed for the clinical trial of herbal drugs will be useful for various industries for considering it before going ahead for clinical trial of their product. This mini review explore the various country herbal drug clinical trial procedures and potential.

Technological and Economic Decoupling in the Cyber Era

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift toward digital services. Meanwhile, the race for technological and economic leadership has heated up, with risks of decoupling that could set back trade and growth and hinder the recovery from the worst global recession since the Great Depression. This paper studies the conditions under which a country may seek to erect barriers—banning imports or exports of cyber technologies—and in effect promote decoupling or deglobalization. A well-known result is that banning imports may be optimal in monopolistic sectors, such as the digital sector. The novel result of this paper is that banning exports can also be optimal, and in some cases superior, as it prevents technological diffusion to a challenger that may eventually become the global supplier, capturing monopoly rents and posing cybersecurity risks. However, export or import bans would come at a deleterious cost to the global economy. The paper concludes that fostering international cooperation, including in the cyber domain, could be key to avoiding technological and economic decoupling and securing better livelihoods.